Pentecostal spirituality calls Christians to the public sphere—to pour our lives out for others.
The Holy Spirit is not a life hack. We are not empowered by God to avoid responsibility. But too often, the Lord’s name is used in vain in this way.
Last month, a United States federal court had to decide whether a juror in a criminal trial was allowed to wave aside evidence and base his verdict on what he said the Holy Spirit told him. One judge in the 11th Circuit said this is not allowed. A court of appeals decided that actually, it is allowed. According to a dissent from that ruling, this juror “is not capable of basing his guilty verdict on the evidence but instead will base his verdict on what he perceives to be a divine revelation.”
Whatever one makes of the legal matters, the court case raises pressing questions about the charismatic, Spirit-led life; public reasoning; and shared responsibility for the common good. It is an urgent problem when so many Pentecostals, charismatics, and other Christians seem to believe that one evidence of the work of the Spirit is rejection of the need for evidence.
At its best, however, Pentecostal spirituality affirms that the Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, is truly “the public person,” urging believers to take responsibility in the public sphere. The Spirit compels believers into solidarity with the poor, the downcast, the outsider.
The all-embracing Spirit of creation is the same Spirit who rested upon Jesus of Nazareth, accomplishing his identification with humanity, and making possible the pattern of life that reveals the heart of the Father. Those who are led by this Spirit are always drawn—as Jesus was—to the dispirited and downtrodden. Filled with this Spirit, we cannot help but pour out our lives in care for others.
Yet today, too many American Pentecostals have been caught up in conspiratorial thinking. Some have questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. Some have defied pandemic guidelines, warning against wearing masks and taking the vaccine. A few have suggested the Spirit makes believers immune to the virus. We should ask how this has happened. Are Pentecostals especially susceptible to political pressures and the meaningless ups and downs of the culture war? If so, why?
Until recently, a majority of Pentecostals in the US opposed direct political involvement, even while they encouraged charitable ministries, calling for societal transformation through revival rather than activism. As a result, Pentecostals have earned a reputation for being “otherworldly.” Allan Anderson, emeritus professor of mission and Pentecostal studies at the University of Birmingham, explains, “They have sometimes been justifiably charged with proclaiming a gospel that either spiritualizes or individualizes social problems. The result has been a tendency either to accept present oppressive social conditions or to promote a ‘prosperity gospel’ that makes material gain a spiritual virtue.”
Although it is surely not what anyone intended, many Pentecostals have come to think of the Spirit as a kind of ultimate life hack, a means of avoiding pain, eliminating difficulties, overcoming obstacles, and assuring success.
Otherworldly Pentecostals tend to think the Spirit’s work is limited to the domain of personal spiritual experience. This way of imagining the Spirit-led life gives rise to a kind of dissociative state. Believers become more and more absorbed in their own experiences, and less and less concerned with the needs of their neighbors.
Dominionist Pentecostals, including those who feel driven to fulfill the “Seven Mountain Mandate,” tend to go another step and think the Spirit’s work is to exalt believers into positions of authority and influence. This way of imagining the Spirit-led life leads to collusion with political and economic powers and a weaponizing or instrumentalizing charismatic gifts for partisan and commercial gains.
SOURCE: CHRISTIAN TODAY